RTC Help

[pittbulldogva]

Hello All,
I have an RTC about 2 feet long in a 1200-gallon indoor pond. Recently he has parked himself in front of the filter outlet in the water stream. He is not eating and seems to have his mouth open all of the time. I've had him for a few years, and he goes through periods where he won't eat. This has been going on for a few weeks now. My water temp is 76 degrees. Ammonia - 0, Nitrite - 0 and Nitrate - less than 10. I do large water changes weekly to keep the nitrates down. He is in there with an alligator gar and two freshwater rays. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,

 

[Fishman Dave]

A good question.
Personally I would question the level of oxygen. Is the pond in sun or shade, how much flow and how much water disturbance with return. Any additional air if return is not substantial disturbance.
Other thing to check is ph, both of the pond and the change water, although if rays are good it may be none of the above.

 

[pittbulldogva]

The pond is inside the basement. I use well water for all of the changes. The ph is about 7.5. The water is hard, but I've been here for 14 years and never had an issue with it. I'm running a Rio 3200 HF pump. I added a water feature that sprayed up and disturbed a lot of the water. I didn't notice any change. The rays are thriving.

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Although I've never had red tail catfish, there was a similar thread about another one that had the same problem as yours and the cause was determined to most likely be a combination of an overload on the biofilter creating NH3 and N02, and chlorine/contaminants in the water (water replacement water was never treated).
I can't find the link to it at the moment. But is there any uneaten food rotting that might be overloading the biofilter, or any possible contaminants in your water replacement water?

Hope this helps. I'll leave anything else to the experts since, as I said, I haven't had these fish.

 

[tlindsey]

The rays are thriving

This is a indicator it's not a water issue imo.
I've kept fish for years and experienced fish getting sick or dying prematurely. Possibly age could be the issue.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Might it have a ray barb in its stomach?

 

[wednesday13]

Most all large catfish will take periods of “fasting” at some point like uve mentioned seeing before… 100% normal behavior IMO, its a growth spurt… you can only feed them so much sometimes. Ive had them go on “hunger strikes” from moving tanks, re arranging tanks or even changing the light fixtures. They get used to “normalcy” and will pout a bit if something is changed. Big babys IMO…

something seems off to me tho with its mouth staying open/gasping. Quite possible one of ur rays “lit him up” defending its self squabbling over space/food. He could have possibly consumed a shed barb also. Ive had fish stung by rays and its 50/50… some make it some dont. Ive had fish eat shed barbs also i had to physically remove from their mouth.

only time i had a rtc gasp like that was when one ate a 5” air stone/disc… anything missing? Lol… i.e. air stone, filter part, deco? It might be choking on a “missing part” or even a ray barb as i mentioned before. Tough to see in a pond. Maybe worth taking it out and inspecting its “gullet”… ive been there… its not fun… but if there is an object in there for 3 weeks time ull have to pull it out urself ??…

Might it have a ray barb in its stomach?

Aye! Beat me to the punch my friend… seems we were typing at the same time ??. Very plausible i agree. Possibly ingested a barb or took a hit from one.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Only my opinion, but would not of thought that the rio 3200 HF (1950gph at no load) pump (assuming I’m getting the right one) was sufficient to lift enough water in 1200g pond to a decent filter for return of any substantial flow / oxygenation, but as you say the rays are thriving, so ………..

 

[pittbulldogva]

Thank you for all of the replies and sound advice. I'm going to check for a barb today. I've found a few barbs on the pond floor. I'm using a 55-gallon rain barrel for a filter. I recently pulled all of the media out of it and flushed it when I did a water change.

 

[wednesday13]

Thank you for all of the replies and sound advice. I'm going to check for a barb today. I've found a few barbs on the pond floor. I'm using a 55-gallon rain barrel for a filter. I recently pulled all of the media out of it and flushed it when I did a water change.

Might have crashed the system washing all ur media… would also explain the “gasping”… would b benificial to set up a 2nd filter/barrel that way u could wash one at a time if/when needed and keep everything “stable”…. Contrary to popular belief rays are very hard IME… they can take alot of abuse before they start to decline. Cats can only take so much before they just drop like flies. Not much u can do now but change water and “ride out” the tank cycling again. Im not one for “snake oils” but some seachem “stability” may help or even prime to knock down the spike from killing off ur good bacteria.